


Sunfur and Shadowscale

by ohthewhomanity



Category: DuckTales (Cartoon 2017)
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe - Creatures & Monsters, Alternate Universe - Dragons, Beakley Scrooge and the triplets are also there but it's not really about them, Biting and Clawing, Dragons, F/F, Fantasy AU, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Magical Creatures AU, Monsters, Teeth and Claws, Violence, friendship is magic but you knew that already, gryphons, heights, some shadow magic body horror but no worse than what we see in the TV show itself, some talk about getting eaten/dismembered
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-14
Updated: 2020-09-14
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:21:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,448
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26456335
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ohthewhomanity/pseuds/ohthewhomanity
Summary: “Are you a dragon?” the gryphon said again in a high-pitched feminine voice.“Depends who’s asking,” Lena replied.Written for Weblena Week 2020 Day 4: AU. Yes, I’m putting it on AO3 early, because I won’t be at my computer on Wednesday. It’ll post on Tumblr on the correct day.
Relationships: Lena (Disney: DuckTales)/Webby Vanderquack
Comments: 4
Kudos: 40





	Sunfur and Shadowscale

Lena hadn’t intended to fall asleep by the side of the stream. But the night had been quiet, aside from the peaceful song of crickets, and it was warm enough to make returning to the cold cave and her aunt’s reprimands seem less appealing than it ever did. And so she had curled up between the wide roots of an old oak tree, her wings folded at her sides and her front claws trailing in the moving water.

“Are you a dragon?!”

The question – sudden and loud and right next to her ear – jolted her out of a swiftly-forgotten dream. One of her claws splashed down into the stream as Lena pushed herself backwards, looking up to find the source of the voice.

She squinted in the sunlight – _was it daytime already? How long had she been asleep? Oh, she’d be in for it now_ – until her eyes adjusted, giving her a clear view of the tree branch directly above her, and of the creature lying across the branch. It was a gryphon – the torso and hindlegs of a lion, along with a long, tufted tail twitching back and forth, and the head and forelegs of a hawk, sharp talons gripping the branch as large sky-blue eyes stared down at Lena. Aside from those eyes, the gryphon was yellow, feathers and fur alike, not unlike the sunlight Lena was shying away from as she backed into the shade of the tree.

“Are you a dragon?” the gryphon said again in a high-pitched feminine voice.

“Depends who’s asking,” Lena replied. Her voice was much lower and rougher than the gryphon’s.

The gryphon giggled and rolled over, keeping her legs firmly around the branch as she did so, so she hung upside-down, her wings folded against her back and her head – Lena flinched back even further – very near Lena’s. So that’s why the question had been so loud, the first time.

“Hi,” said the gryphon, reaching down with one front talon towards Lena. “I’m Webby.”

“Hm.” Lena raised a claw, just enough to push Webby’s talon out of the way as she stepped out from under the tree. “Hey.”

She’d only taken a few steps away from the stream when there was a rustling of leaves and feathers behind her, and then a soft impact in the grass, four legs to the ground.

“I’ve never seen a dragon before,” Webby said, lightly stepping forward to walk next to Lena. “But you’ve got the scales, and the wings. Are all dragons black, or do you come in different colors? Do you breathe fire? Do you have any other magic powers? Is it true that you have an insatiable hunger for treasure that drives you to a life of hoarding, theft, and other villainy?”

“You ask a lot of questions, don’t you, Yellow?”

“My uncle doesn’t like dragons.”

“Good to know.” Lena hopped up onto a nearby rock, stretching her wings out to their full length. It was a risky thing to do, in broad daylight – she might as well be a big black target on the green, grassy plain for anything looking down from the mountains – but if she was going to get into the air this soon after waking up, she needed to stretch.

“Whoa.” Webby sat at the base of the rock, looking up at her. “Your scales are kinda rainbow-y in the sunlight!”

“Are they?” Lena twisted her long neck to look over her shoulder. “Huh. So they are.”

“You haven’t seen yourself in the sun before? Or wait – was that sarcasm?”

Lena affixed a smirk to her face before looking down at Webby again. “That’s for me to know and for you to guess.”

Webby stretched out on the ground and rolled over again, a slight frown furrowing her forehead feathers. “I’m awful with sarcasm.”

“It’s a skill like any other, Flippy.”

“Webby.”

“Lena,” said the dragon, and wondered why she’d done so.

A huge grin split the gryphon’s curved beak. “Nice to meet you, Lena.”

“Uh, sure.” Lena gave her wings an experimental flap. “Listen, I gotta go…”

“Aw, already?” Webby pawed at the air half-heartedly, and Lena managed not to laugh at the unexpectedly adorable sight. “But we were just becoming friends!”

Is that what was happening? Lena tilted her head from side to side in a shrug. “My aunt’s probably wondering where I am.”

“Oh, I know how that is!” Webby stuck out her tongue. “My granny’s definitely wondering the same thing about me. She doesn’t like it at all when I leave the rookery. She thinks I’ll run into something dangerous out here.”

“Smart bird, your granny.”

“I can protect myself, though!” Webby rolled back to her feet, flaring her wings for emphasis. “I’m a lot tougher than I look.”

“I’m sure you’re an absolutely murderous ball of sunshine.”

Webby looked like she’d never received a bigger compliment in her life. “So I’ll see you around?”

“Sure, the next time we both decide to disobey our guardians.”

“Tomorrow, then!”

Lena laughed. “Right.” She tensed her legs and pushed away from the rock, beating her wings to create a strong updraft that ruffled Webby’s feathers and pulled Lena into the air. The black dragon climbed to a safe height, high enough to mistake the trees for shrubs between the mountains, before looking down again. The yellow gryphon was no longer on the ground but had taken flight as well. Even at this distance, Lena could tell that Webby’s wingspan was bigger than her own, and she didn’t need to flap nearly as much, instead gliding on the rising thermals.

For a moment, Lena wondered if Webby was going to follow her again. Then the yellow gryphon banked to the right, and Lena quickly lost sight of her among the mountains.

* * *

“A gryphon!” Deep laughter echoed through the cold, dark cavern, rattling the enormous pile of magical artifacts covering the stone floor. A few goblets and amulets still had a faint glow to them, but most were completely drained of power, left mere metal. At the center of it all lay Magica Shadowscale, three times Lena’s length from head to tail and with claws twice as sharp, her withered wings splayed out across the metal bedding.

“The foolish child strays from her rookery,” Magica said, a single enormous yellow eye finding Lena where she sat on a cracked rocky ledge. “You’ve done well, little Lena.”

“I have?”

“Gryphons are keepers of incredible magical power. They guard it fiercely within their homes. This one is the key to her clan’s power. Find her again. Endear yourself to her. She will welcome you into her rookery, and then –” Magica licked her chops, her tongue curling around teeth longer than Lena’s claws. “– you will bring the source of their magic to me.”

“Right. Endear myself to her.” Lena shifted her weight from one leg to the other. “And how do I do that, exactly? You know, it’s not like I have much experience making friends, being your eternal servant and all…”

The metal beneath her rustled and clanked again, and the cavern grew darker. Shadows stretched up the cavern walls, forming three-fingered hands which clasped at Lena. She shuddered and extended her wings, but the shadows were coming down at her from above, too. A fresh crack appeared in the rock beneath her feet, the ledge threatening to come away from the wall altogether.

“Do not fail me,” Magica hissed.

“I won’t!” Lena pulled her tail out of the reach of the nearest shadowy hand. “I won’t. I promise!”

* * *

“We’re gonna die. We’re gonna die. Oh my god, we’re gonna die!”

“Shut up, Louie!” Lena hissed, but even she had to admit, silently, that things had gotten out of hand.

Sure, it had seemed like a good idea at the time to lure Webby and her three little brothers into a deep, damp tunnel beneath the mountains with stories of a long-lost underground civilization – mysterious adventures were a great way to make friends, right? But that had been before the tunnel had turned out to be a dead end, and before they had all turned around to find the entryway blocked by a massive three-headed hydra.

For all their smack-talk on the surface, the three little white gryphons were not handling the danger well at all. Louie was a nervous wreck, and Huey was outright hyperventilating – gryphons had a tendency towards claustrophobia, and he _hated_ not being able to see the sky. Dewey was still attempting to put on a brave exterior, but he was shaking enough for his claws to rattle against the slick stone floor. Webby had positioned herself between them all and the hydra, her neck feathers puffed out in a display of aggression.

As for the hydra, it was watching them all with six green eyes, and laughing with three purple tongues at the end of three snakelike necks.

“What a lovely snack!” said the head on the left.

“And dessert besides,” said the head on the right.

“More than enough for a full-up belly,” said the head in the middle, and all three chuckled, setting the gryphons’ fur on end. Lena had no hair to ruffle, but she was hardly comfortable.

“You guys better back off!” There was an edge to Webby’s voice, taking away its usual sweetness, though it was no less high-pitched. “Or else!”

“Or else what?” laughed the head in the middle.

Webby scowled, her eyes darting around the tunnel. It wasn’t nearly wide enough for her to extend her wings, and while she might be able to attack one of the heads, the other two would be on her the moment she got within striking distance. But to stay put, here in the dark and the muck, was to die.

“So how does this work, anyway?” Lena stepped forward to stand next to Webby. “You’ve got three heads, sure, but only one stomach, right? So does one of you eat while the others watch?”

Huey squeaked behind her. Lena ignored him.

The hydra laughed again. “We all eat!” said the head on the left.

“We take equal shares of the kill,” said the head on the right.

“And equal enjoyment,” said the head in the middle.

Lena nodded. “Uh-huh, okay. I take it you never had a math lesson, then. ‘Cause there are five of us and three of you. Five doesn’t divide equally by three.”

The hydra heads hissed at each other for a moment.

“Lena, what are you doing?” Webby whispered.

“Trust me.”

“We always take equal shares of the kill,” the head on the right said again.

“But five does not divide by three…” said the head on the left.

“That’s assuming you’re planning on eating all five of us,” Lena said. “Gryphons are soft and squishy, and super tasty once you pick all the fur out from between your teeth –”

“Hey!” Dewey exclaimed.

“– but dragons are harder to swallow,” Lena continued. “You know that only another dragon’s teeth can pierce through our scales, right?”

“What are you –” Dewey tried again, but Webby shushed him, her eyes intently on Lena.

“That’s true…” mused the head on the left.

“We cannot eat the dragon…” said the head in the middle.

“So that leaves us with four,” said the head on the right. “Four is closer to three.”

“But it still doesn’t equally divide,” said Lena. “Though if you’d notice, this one here is a bit bigger than the other three,” she added, extending a claw towards Webby. “Whichever of you eats her gets more than the other two.”

“Unless you double up on two of the triplets!” Webby chimed in, catching on. “Two of them is about equal to me.”

“So I will eat the bigger one,” said the head in the middle.

“And I will eat two of the little ones,” said the head on the left.

Lena rolled her eyes. “So you on the right, you get stuck with just one of the little ones, right? That doesn’t seem fair, now does it?”

“It isn’t fair!” the head on the right exclaimed. “It isn’t equal! I demand more than just one of the little ones!”

“And we haven’t even begun to talk about the choicest bits!” Lena said. “Portion size isn’t everything, you know.”

“Yeah!” said Webby. “It’s about quality, too!”

“I demand a quality meal!” said the head on the left, its voice rising in agitation.

“As do I!” “And I!” the other heads echoed.

“So you better be careful,” Lena said in a sing-song tone, “or else one of your brothers will snatch up all the nice sweet underbellies before you. Or those juicy eyes. Someone’s going to end up eating more eyes than the others, of course. So who’s it gonna be?”

“I will have the eyes!” shouted the head in the middle.

“I will have the underbellies _and_ the eyes!” said the head on the left.

“I will have _your_ eyes!” shrieked the head on the right, and its long, thin neck swung around to bite the head on the left.

All three heads screamed, because they shared a nervous system and so felt the same pain. The other two heads lunged forward to take revenge on the aggressor on the right. The hydra slammed itself against the walls of the tunnel, falling over in a tangle of screaming, biting necks and clawing limbs.

“Go, go, go!” Lena urged, and the four gryphons sprang forward, racing back up the tunnel. They all leaped over the distracted, suffering hydra and out into the late afternoon sunlight. As soon as they had room to spread their wings, they did so, leaving the tunnel and the hydra’s echoing wails far behind.

They came down again near the stream where Lena and Webby first met – all dirty and shaken, but alive and unharmed.

“Lena!” Webby’s grin was as bright as her yellow fur. “That was awesome! How you made the hydra fight itself so that we could escape!”

“Well you helped!” Lena nudged shoulders with her. “And I saw that little flip you did over the hydra’s back as we ran, you big show-off.”

“Seriously, though,” Huey said, having finally caught his breath. “You turned all three heads on each other, just by talking.”

“You are my new favorite!” said Louie.

“You gotta hang out with us again!” Dewey’s tail was lashing from side to side. “It’s never this exciting at home! But you, you’re like an adventure magnet!”

“You have no idea,” Lena said dryly.

Webby giggled. Lena wasn’t sure what she thought the joke was, but she smiled anyway.

The triplets took off for home first, Webby staying on the ground a moment longer.

“You saved our lives today,” she said. “Thank you.”

“Ah, it was nothing,” said Lena. “That’s what friends are for, right?”

Webby reared up on her hind legs, doing an excited little twirl. “Yes!” she said, and the pure joy in her voice made Lena’s heart leap.

* * *

Evidently saving her grandchildren’s life was enough to make Webby’s granny agree to allow Lena over for a sleepover. Magica was thrilled.

“Find the source of their magic,” she said again to Lena, “find it and bring it to me!”

The unspoken “or else” was still ringing in Lena’s ears as she followed Webby through the mountain pass, along twists and turns the dragon could never have navigated on her own but now committed to memory. Just in case she needed to return, unguided, without permission. Her stomach twisted as she flew, though she’d never once been airsick in her life. It was just something about watching Webby in front of her, the gryphon’s tail flicking back and forth excitedly as she led the way, smiling, trusting. Trusting Lena just like she’d asked her to, just like Magica had expected her to.

They came around a final bend, and the mountain walls gave way to a wide, round space – like the caldera left behind by a volcano, and perhaps it had been, long ago. But now the stone was calm and grey and interspersed with green, a rocky valley hidden high and away, full of small trees and flowers. For how high up they were, it was surprisingly warm; Lena looked around at the tall curve of the surrounding rock, protecting all inside from the wind. It might even be enough to keep rain away, too, though she noticed multiple cave openings around the rookery for extra shelter. For now, it seemed all the gryphons were out in the open. Many heads lifted at Webby and Lena’s arrival. She wondered if, like Webby, they all had never seen a dragon before. This was certainly more gryphons than she had ever seen in her life – big and small, light and dark.

Webby’s three little brothers came bounding over to greet her. Dewey leapt at Lena with a mock-ferocious screech, instigating a friendly tussle that soon all of his siblings were swept up in as well. Lena kept her claws curled and her mouth shut, all the sharp points of her body tucked safely away so she couldn’t even accidentally leave a scratch in white or yellow fur. Her eyes kept flickering away from her gleeful opponents to a large grey gryphon sitting atop a high ledge, watching her with a stern expression. Webby’s granny, Beakley, no doubt. And if that dragon-hating uncle was here somewhere, then Lena had all the more reason to be careful.

Webby had no such caution, throwing the little white gryphons aside with ease as they squawked in protest.

“Why did we start a fight against the girls?” Huey exclaimed ruefully, picking himself up and shaking the dirt out of his feathers

Webby laughed, bumping her shoulder against Lena’s. “I’m so glad you’re finally here!”

“Thanks for having me.”

“It’s not much, but, you know.” Webby waved a wing at their surroundings. “Home is home.”

“It’s like nothing I’ve ever seen before.”

“Oh, come on. I bet you’ve been much more interesting places! What’s your home like? It’s gotta be a magical place of mysterious secrets, right?”

Lena shrugged. “Home” is not a word she’d use to describe Magica’s cave. Compared to _this_ home – warm and protected, with watchful eyes above and soft, green bedding below, and everyone relaxed now that they weren’t staring at her – the word didn’t even seem to apply.

“It’s pretty boring, actually,” she said, forcing a smirk. “Now _I_ bet _here_ you’ve got some cool secrets, if you wanna share…?”

It wasn’t her best lure. But Webby’s eyes widened a bit and she turned to run.

“Wait here,” she called over her shoulder. “I just remembered!”

Lena waited, her eyes scanning the rookery again. Webby’s granny was still up on her ledge, but she was turned away now, talking to another elder gryphon – a white one like the triplets, but an adult, with some kind of small amulet around his neck. No one else was paying attention to her anymore, either. If she were a gryphon, where would she hide the source of her clan’s magic?

Webby came back out of one of the little cave entrances, returning to Lena’s side. She had something clutched in one of her talons, and she held it out towards Lena.

“I made us matching friendship bracelets,” she said. Lena wasn’t sure what a friendship bracelet was, but it seemed to be a loop of flexible material – braided-together flower stems, pink ribbons, and a thin golden chain.

Lena had been there when Webby found the chain – watching from a distance, trying to figure out how to naturally approach the gryphon again now that she was under orders to befriend her, and she’d seen her dive down to pick up the shiny thing. So this is what it was for.

Webby put a matching bracelet around her own wrist, and so Lena did the same.

“Thanks,” she said. “So, uh, you want to show me around in here?”

“Actually…” Webby glanced up at the ledge, but her granny wasn’t watching them anymore. “I was thinking we could go flying. Just you and me. We can hang out here later, you know?”

Lena could practically hear her aunt snarling at her – she was supposed to be searching the rookery, not playing around outside of it! But Webby was smiling at her so hopefully, and bouncing a little on her heels in the sweetest way, and so there was really only one thing to do.

“Let’s get out of here,” Lena said.

Webby giggled, nudging her back towards the entrance of the rookery. “Quick, before Granny notices we’re not in my room!”

* * *

Night fell quickly this deep in the mountains, with a horizon so tall all around them to hide the daylight away. But Lena’s eyes were more accustomed to darkness, anyway, and Webby’s yellow fur was easy for her to spot among the shadows and the pines. A leisurely flight turned into a game of hide-and-seek, which Lena effortlessly won, and then a race, in which Webby had an undeniable advantage.

It occurred to Lena, as she beat her wings through the cool night air and snatched at Webby’s tufted tail, that chasing Webby was like chasing the sun, and not just because of her fur color. Webby was brightness; Webby was warmth.

Webby was out of her reach.

And not just because she was such a fast flier.

But it was easy to forget that, in the moment, with the treetops zipping past beneath her, and an endless starry sky above her, and Webby’s laughter filling the air all around her. Lena couldn’t think of a time when her heart had pounded so quickly for a reason other than fear.

They neared a tree that stood taller than the rest, with sparse, wide branches, and there Webby made one last casual loop-de-loop in the air before landing, ending the chase. Lena landed heavily on the other side of the trunk, claws gripping the bark.

“You’re breathing so hard I’m surprised you’re _not_ spouting fire,” Webby teased.

“I’d – I’d have caught you – eventually,” Lena gasped.

Webby flicked her tail at Lena’s nose. “Sure you would.”

As Lena caught her breath, Webby stretched out across the branch with her wings folded back, in much the same lazy pose she’d taken the first time Lena saw her.

“This is my favorite place in the whole world,” the gryphon said. “You can see everything from up here. Even beyond the mountains, see?”

Lena looked. She’d never perched this high up before – the entrance to Magica’s cave was much lower than the gryphons’ territory, and she’d never had reason to stray this far. But there was the stream, a little ribbon of sparkling silver, and the trees along it small enough that they could have been grass or even moss. Of course, the mountains behind her were still enormous enough to dwarf her even now. But from here, looking away from those high peaks, her gaze carried over the smaller peaks to a place beyond. It was flat out there, and a much paler green, with smaller colored dots here and there. Even with Lena’s night vision, those dots were just too far away for her to make out. What were they? Plants? Rocks? Some kind of structure?

“Granny says there’s nothing out there I need to bother myself with,” said Webby. “But I know Uncle Scrooge has left the mountain range. He had all kinds of adventures out there in the world. I’m going to get out there too, someday, and have adventures of my own. I’m gonna explore it all.”

“I know you will,” said Lena.

“Maybe you could come with me?”

“Maybe I could.”

Webby’s shoulders wiggled, and she made a comfortable, satisfied little sound. She was still looking towards the horizon, but Lena found herself looking at Webby. Webby, who wanted Lena to come with her, away from the mountains, away from everything they knew and into the unknown.

It was a terrifying idea.

It was a wonderful idea.

Because while she had no idea what was out there, nor did she really know where “out there” was – she knew that Webby would be there, and that Webby would want her to be there.

Heck, Lena didn’t really know where she was right now! She had no idea what she was doing, not anymore.

But Webby was here. And somehow that made all the difference. Somehow that turned this moment into a perfect one.

A low hum met her ears, and then she noticed the light, a pale blue light coming from near her claws. She looked down. Her friendship bracelet was glowing. And so, she realized, was Webby’s.

Webby’s ear twitched, and she looked at her own wrist. Her tail, hanging low beneath the branch, flicked in the air.

“Is that…” Lena’s tongue flicked the air. There was power coming from the bracelet – like the power she could sense from the artifacts Magica collected and drained, but different, somehow. Fresher. “Is this gryphon magic?”

“No,” said Webby, turning her wrist to look at the bracelet from a different angle, as though admiring the glow. “It’s something even better.”

“What does it mean?” Lena hadn’t meant to whisper, really, but that’s how it came out.

“It means we’re in sync.” Webby’s eyes met hers for just a moment before flickering away again. “You know… even though I literally just said I can’t wait to get away, I was just thinking… there’s nowhere I’d rather be right now than here.”

“It’s a pretty nice tree, yeah,” Lena’s mouth said automatically. Hooray for the sarcasm reflex.

Webby shook her head. “I don’t mean the tree, I – I mean here, with you. And I think, wherever that might be, it’ll still be true. If you’re here, then… it’s right.”

Lena looked down at her wrist. She looked at Webby.

“I was kinda just thinking the same thing,” she said.

Webby exhaled, and she grinned, meeting Lena’s gaze fully. “See? We’re in sync.”

Then the gryphon leaned forward, around the curve of the tree trunk, and gently pressed her forehead to Lena’s cheek. It was not a gesture that Lena had ever seen before, let alone had done to her. Her aunt was hardly the affectionate sort, and Lena had never had anyone else to be close to. But something stirring in her chest in response to the contact told her what to do, and so Lena bowed her head, turning her neck until her and Webby’s foreheads were pressed together.

And despite how fiercely Lena’s heart had been beating just moments before from their dash through the night sky, it had slowed now, the rhythm calm and at peace.

The bracelets’ glow brightened, and from a distance, so high up in the darkness, they might have looked like stars.

* * *

“Say that again,” Magica hissed, a sound echoed by the whispering commentary of the shadows lurking at the corners of the cave. Lena ignored them, standing as still as she dared on that cracked rocky ledge.

“There’s nothing there,” said Lena. “No power source, and no magical artifacts, gryphon or otherwise. It’s a bust.”

It was a true enough statement. Her friendship bracelet was well on its way to the sea by now, discarded in the stream as she flew back to the cave. Better it be lost than brought here for Magica to drain and add to her pile, the pile which rustled and clanked beneath the enormous dragon as her tail shifted among the treasure and debris.

“You’re lying,” said Magica, her tongue tasting the air. “There’s power in that rookery. I can smell it on you! You didn’t look for it at all, did you? You spent the whole night flirting with your little friend.”

“She’s nothing to me,” Lena said quickly. Too quickly. Magica chuckled darkly.

“You sentimental fool,” she said. “You were supposed to play her, not the other way around! Ah, well – if you want anything done, you’ve got to do it yourself…”

Her great yellow eyes seemed to brighten – but Lena realized a moment too late that this was only because the rest of her was darkening to a shade blacker than black, deeper than shadow. Lena spread her wings and pushed away from the rocky ledge – but one of the shadows along the wall had grabbed her around the ankle, and it tugged her down again. Lena fell back with a yelp, and the ledge crumbled away beneath her, sending her tumbling. She landed hard in the pile of metal, and by then Magica had completely melted away to join the mass of shadows swarming the cavern, pouring over Lena.

The little dragon struggled and screamed, but the shadows forced their way into her mouth, her ears, her eyes. They crowded her out until the only space left for her was far at the back of her brain, and all she could do was watch in horror as her own body stood without her bidding, and her wings stretched and flapped against her will, and Magica’s horrible laugh came out of her own mouth.

* * *

The little black dragon’s unexpected arrival at the rookery entrance caused a bit of a stir amongst the gryphons, but not outright alarm – even if she was giggling strangely, very unlike the demeanor she’d had the last time she’d visited their home (it had been so long since Magica had flown, it being so much easier to send her servant out for her, and she’d forgotten how fun it could be).

Webby’s surprise was delight, and she glided across the rookery to meet her.

“I was just about to sneak out and find you!” the gryphon said, not even caring who heard. “Want to go exploring?”

“Actually,” said the dragon, walking purposefully to the center of the rookery, “I’d rather ‘explore’ in here. Until I get my jaws around whatever is filling this rookery with such delicious magical power!”

“What are you –?” Webby’s question broke off into a gasp as Lena suddenly fell forward onto her knees, a black, liquid-like substance pouring out of her mouth and eyes, rapidly spreading into a wide, thick puddle. The other gryphons shouted in alarm, those nearest to the puddle leaping away to avoid touching it. At the center of it all, Lena coughed and gagged, weakly shaking her head clear of the shadowy mass as it rose up from the stone floor, forming legs, and a tail, and two shriveled wings –

– and Magica Shadowscale grinned down at the gryphons, taking delight in their shock and fear. The rookery seemed much smaller with her in it. She brought her forelegs down sharply, her claws splitting the rock, and she laughed as the gryphons shied away from the splinters of stone, adults ushering children into the caves for protection.

“Shadowscale!”

The defiant shout came from the white elder gryphon Lena had seen before, talking to Webby’s Granny. Now both he and Beakley stood atop the ledge, putting them at eye level with Magica, their wings flared and expressions livid.

“Scrooge! Ha! I should have known this was _your_ clan.” Magica’s eyes zeroed in on the amulet around Scrooge’s neck – a small silver coin, which to her sight was practically aglow with power. “I’ll be taking that.”

“Over my dead body.”

Magica grinned, and a pink light began to shine behind her teeth. “That’s the idea.”

The dragon opened her enormous jaws and a blaze of pink energy emerged – not fire, exactly, but Scrooge and Beakley barely leapt out of the way, and the rock where they had stood a moment before was left scorched and smoking.

Something tugged at Magica’s leg. She looked down. Lena hadn’t quite managed to stand up yet, but she’d wrapped her forelegs around Magica’s hind ankle.

“Stop,” Lena gasped up at her. “Please.”

Magica chuckled. “Oh, my sweet, dumb, dumb little Lena. Are you actually trying to help them?”

She kicked Lena forward, bringing a claw down to pin her to the stone. Lena whimpered from the impact.

“You’re no help to them.” Magica’s teeth were inches from Lena’s neck, her breath hot on Lena’s scales. “And you’ve outlived your usefulness to me. Say goodbye, little – augh!”

Something slammed against the side of Magica’s face, and she stumbled to the side. Webby’s talons scrabbled harmlessly on Magica’s scales, but she kept trying, wings beating furiously to keep herself on top of Magica’s head.

“Don’t you touch her!” Webby shrieked, jabbing her beak at one of Magica’s huge yellow eyes.

“Get off of me! Vile, feathered vermin! Get off!”

Magica turned and ran for the edge of the rookery, body-slamming the rock wall and slamming Webby into it as well. Webby fell away, landing in a dazed heap.

Beakley roared, bounding across the rookery at Magica, who ran straight at her in turn. Lena paid no attention to their fight. She found herself suddenly able to move again, and she ran to Webby’s side.

“Webby? Webby!” She gently nudged Webby’s shoulder with her nose. “Webby, are you okay? Please be okay! Webby?”

Webby stirred, and her eyes focused. “Lena…!”

“Why did you save me?” The stone beneath Lena’s claws shook with the impact of another ball of pink energy. “I brought Aunt Magica here. I betrayed you!”

Webby slowly reached up with a talon, cupping the side of Lena’s face.

“We’re friends, you beautiful idiot,” she said. “I love you. I don’t care what you did.”

Lena leaned forward, pressing her forehead against Webby’s.

Across the rookery, Beakley was holding her own against Magica, evading the dragon’s attacks and occasionally getting in a jab of her own – strikes which would have felled any other creature, but only glanced off of Magica’s scales.

“Pointless!” Magica hissed after yet another kick failed to leave a mark. “Pathetic! You only annoy me, and you only delay the inevitable. I will have your clan’s magic – and I will kill you all!”

She opened her jaws to release a fresh blast of pink energy, and Beakley had to duck away from it, taking brief shelter behind a smoldering tree. The elder gryphon was strong, but she still found herself short of breath. How long could she keep this up? Hiding was no real option. Was fleeing? Should she tell the others to go? They would, if she ordered it. But this was their home, their sanctuary. There was nowhere to go; nowhere would be safe. And this was a battle she had to fight, knowing she had no hope of winning it, knowing that after she fell, so would the rest of her clan.

Magica sauntered closer to her, laughing. Beakley steeled herself to resume the fight.

She heard the crackle of energy before she saw it – a blue wave slicing through the air. It collided with Magica, knocking her off-balance.

All eyes snapped to Lena, wings outstretched, her eyes and jaws glowing bright blue. She reared back on her hind legs and roared, beating her wings in a challenge. Behind her stood Webby – shaky, but upright – the bracelet around her wrist glowing that same bright blue.

Magica opened her mouth and fired a ball of pink energy straight towards Lena and Webby. Beakley didn’t even have time to cry out as the magic impacted – and dissipated. A translucent blue dome had formed around Lena and Webby, and there the two still stood, unharmed.

Lena smirked, and rushed forward, leaping out through the shield and right for Magica’s face.

Her aunt howled, stomping her feet and shaking her neck as she had done to dislodge Webby, but Lena sunk her teeth into the side of Magica’s face, prying away at the scales. As Magica screamed, Lena widened the wound, working her way down her neck and to her back. There was no blood – only soft, squishy skin, left exposed to the air in a jagged pale strip.

Desperate, Magica rolled over, crushing Lena into the ground and finally forcing the little dragon to dizzily lose her grip. Magica’s head shot forward, and her great jaws snapped at Lena, but missed as Lena was suddenly yanked out of the way – pulled into one of the little caves by a large white gryphon.

“I’ve got you, lass!” said Scrooge, putting a talon to Lena’s back as she shook her head, trying to stop it from spinning enough to re-enter the fray. “I’ve got you. Excellent, excellent work!”

The instant Lena was out of harm’s way, Beakley leapt at Magica again, driving her beak into the exposed skin on her back. Emboldened by the dragon’s pained wails, more gryphons came pouring out from their hiding places, assisting their matriarch in the attack, clawing and biting at anything they could reach. They covered Magica, overwhelmed her until all she could do was try to get away. She took a step back, and then another, and another – and then she toppled right over the edge of the rookery wall.

The gryphons all had no trouble letting go and taking flight. Magica flung out her withered wings – but they were atrophied from years spent lounging in her pile of ill-gotten treasures, and they provided no lift. At first the elder dragon’s screams echoed between the mountains, but they quickly faded as she fell down, down, down…

…until those last soft echoes were the only remaining sign of her.

Lena, half-out of the little cave, just stared at the spot where Magica had been a moment ago, where gryphons now circled over empty air. Her aunt was gone. Gone!

“I don’t suppose you’ll be missing her?” Scrooge said, coming up next to her.

Lena shook her head dumbly, her mouth agape.

Scrooge chuckled. “I won’t offer my condolences, then. Good riddance!”

And then the cheers began, from the triumphant adults circling above and the relieved, gleeful children coming out of hiding below. The triplets dogpiled their uncle, who laughed, taking their weight easily.

“Lena!”

Webby was running towards her. Lena met her halfway, and they collapsed against each other, exhaustion setting in them both at once.

“You were incredible!” Webby breathed.

“I don’t even know what we did!” said Lena. “What just happened?”

“We won. That’s what happened.”

Over Webby’s shoulder, Lena saw Beakley land on the rookery wall. The elder gryphon made eye contact with her and nodded once. Somehow that meant more than a smile would have.

Lena closed her eyes and buried her face in the feathers on Webby’s neck. She took a deep breath and let it out again, and if she got Webby’s feathers wet with tears, she wouldn’t have admitted it, but neither of them minded.

She was free.


End file.
